by Georgie Lee
‘No, he told me the other day he received a note from Georgia about some unfinished business. This must have something to do with it.’ She’d bet her eye teeth it wasn’t the sort of commercial interest Jasper had alluded to, but it allowed her to save face with the solicitor. She refused to stand here and have him think her a betrayed wife who’d inadvertently discovered her husband’s infidelity. ‘I’ll sign the draft and speak to Jasper about it later.’
‘Of course.’
Jane took the paper to the writing table and signed the document, her fingers tight on the pen to keep it from shaking as she wrote her name. Then she handed it to Mr Steed, who tucked it back in his valise.
‘Thank you, Mrs Charton. I hope I haven’t inadvertently caused you any distress or concern,’ he apologised while Jane escorted him to the front door.
‘Of course not.’ She smiled brightly, trying to shake off his embarrassment as well as hers. ‘Good day, Mr Steed.’
He slipped on his hat and darted down the walk to his waiting carriage.
With as much composure as Jane could manage she returned to the study while Johnson closed the door. She stopped in the centre of the narrow room, fighting back the wave of distress crashing over her.
Jane slumped into the gilded chair by the desk. Maybe this was the real reason he’d been reluctant to marry her. He’d hoped his paramour from Savannah might join him. Except Mrs Robillard was married. No wonder Jasper had changed his mind. Better to wed a free woman in London who could help him with his club then pine for a married one in Savannah. Except he isn’t pining. He’s sending her money.
If he were upstairs sleeping, she would march up there directly and ask Jasper about this mysterious woman. But she didn’t know where he’d gone while she’d been out. She would have to wait until he returned to escort her to his parents’ house for dinner.
His parents.
It was bad enough she intended to enter their home while lying about Jasper’s true occupation and income, but to be forced to play the role of the happy newlywed while she worried about his fidelity was more than she wished to bear. Perhaps she could plead a headache and not go, except it would probably have his sisters flooding in here wondering if she were with child, since she never took ill. There was nothing to do but go and face his family, guilty conscience or not. She’d taken on Jasper’s lies when she’d married him and she must endure them and whatever troubles they caused her as she’d sworn to do at the altar. It didn’t mean she wouldn’t discover the truth, but it wouldn’t be tonight. She couldn’t hope to maintain any sense of composure if Jasper confirmed her suspicions. She must keep her concerns from everyone, including Jasper, until she could find a moment and a way to face him and discover at last what was going on. It made her feel more alone and isolated than when she’d lived with Philip.
This wasn’t the way her marriage was supposed to be.
Chapter Twelve
Jasper sat across from Jane in the coach as it carried them to his parents’ house and the dinner party awaiting them. He hadn’t seen Jane since their encounter in their bedroom. Even after he’d come home from the jeweller’s to dress, she’d been so occupied with Mrs Hodgkin there hadn’t been a moment for them to talk. He’d been secretly relieved, in no mood for a fight before they left for his parents’ house. When at last he could no longer put off facing her, he’d braced himself and come down from dressing to find her waiting for him in the sitting room. She’d been polite and sweet, peppering him with innocuous questions about his day and allowing him to escort her to the carriage, her small hand on his arm, her copper-coloured evening dress whispering against his legs as they walked. Yet for all her pretence to everything being well, the stiffness of her gait and the shallowness of her smile told him it wasn’t and, like him, she was doing her best to hide it.
It was time for him to make amends and bring the light back into her expression.
‘I have something for you.’ He removed a long, slender velvet box from his coat pocket and held it out to her.
She eyed it and him with suspicion. ‘What is it?’
‘Open it and see.’ He perched on the edge of the squab, eager for the smile his gift would bring to her red lips. He needed her good humour. He didn’t have enough of his own.
She pushed back the lid, her eyebrows rising at the gold-and-diamond necklace inside. ‘It’s stunning.’
Her response wasn’t. There were no effusive thanks, no squeal of delight or the throwing of her curving arms around his neck like she’d done before their visit to the theatre. With his gift he’d tried to recapture the joy of their first week together, just as he’d strived to maintain the connection between them this afternoon when he’d kissed her. He hadn’t been manipulating her into agreeing to his plan for separate rooms, only searching for the connection which had bound them together over the last few weeks, the one he’d severed with his foolishness. He should have known better than to think he could do it with jewellery.
She lifted out the necklace and the diamonds flashed in the carriage lantern light as she held it out to him. ‘Will you put it on me?’
‘Of course.’
She turned her back to him and he took both ends of the cool metal and slipped it around her neck. Her perfume encircled him like the gold did her neck, the arch of it tantalising beneath his fingertips. He wanted to press his lips to the tender skin, to make her sigh and tilt her head back to rest on his shoulder, to draw her closer and banish the discomfort between them. He fastened the clasp, then rested his hands on her shoulders. Her skin was soft and warm and as familiar as his own. When he slept in the mornings, he would miss the heat of her beside him and the ease of laying his palm on her firm thigh. The nights would be colder, too, without her in his bed. He thought he’d needed space, but he was fast learning what he needed was her. He was about to admit he’d been a fool to leave her room when the carriage rocked to a halt.
She turned her head, her eyes catching his, the uncertainty in their blue depths as strong as in the pit of his stomach. If he’d never gone to America, if he’d rejected Uncle Peter’s vices instead of embracing them, if he’d kept his promise to redeem himself, he’d be worthy of Jane’s heart.
Let her help you and make everything right again. He couldn’t, not when they were moments away from facing his family.
He removed his hands from her shoulders and she slipped back across the carriage to take her seat and wait for the driver to open the door and hand her down.
* * *
Jane held Jasper’s arm as they climbed the wide staircase to reach the sitting room and the party waiting for them. The necklace sat heavy around her neck. She wanted Jasper’s whole heart and the respect he’d promised her, not expensive gifts. She wasn’t as convinced as Mrs Hale of her ability to draw him out, and feared the distance between them would continue to grow until it could never be overcome. One day, she might walk into the Charton home alone the way she had after her failed engagement. She never wanted to face such humiliation again.
Voices and the melodious notes of Lily’s piano playing drifted out of the upstairs sitting room, adding a warm cheeriness to the house which could not penetrate her and Jasper. She’d been here a thousand times, but this would be her first as a wife trying to pretend everything with her marriage was well when it wasn’t.
They reached the sitting room, and Jasper’s sisters surrounded her in a flutter of oohs and ahhs over her new necklace. A week ago Jane would have tossed back her head to display her gift and revel in their admiration. Tonight, she wanted to hide it and herself. She should be grateful he’d thought of her and wanted to make her happy, but it was all on the surface, as false as the sets on the Covent Garden Theatre stage. Beneath the sparkle of the gems were so many questions and troubles she had no idea how to untangle. There’d been no time in the carriage, even during the moment
when, with his hands on her shoulders, she’d wanted to reach out to him and ask if he still cherished and cared for her as he’d promised he would.
While Jane spoke with the Charton sisters, Jasper remained beside her as stiff as a horsehair cushion. He did what was expected of him, greeting his twin brothers with his usual charming smiles and jokes, his clothes impeccable as always, but she caught the tension around his eyes, the subtle avoiding of her questioning glances. It made it difficult for Jane to hold her smile and pretend, like him, everything was splendid.
She believed she was fooling everyone until Mrs Charton approached them, studying them with motherly regard. ‘Jasper, Jane, you both look so pale. Tomorrow night you must come with us to Vauxhall Gardens. The distraction will help you both.’
‘I think it would be lovely,’ Jane lied, adding another to the many already accumulated. Jasper was right, it ate at her like the distance between them did.
‘Perhaps another evening, I have some business to attend to,’ Jasper refused his mother with an apologetic smile, but it did nothing to ease the tiredness in his eyes. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one being worn down by this charade. How he’d managed it for so long while living in his parents’ house she couldn’t imagine.
‘Jasper, come here. Giles wants to talk to you about something called a railway.’ Mr Charton drew Jasper away, while Mrs Charton occupied herself with her grandchildren.
Jane was left to the sisters who dragged her to the arrangement of sofas in front of the fireplace, sat her down and peppered her with questions about how she and Jasper were getting on. Jane twisted herself into knots making up the imaginary life she lived with Jasper, the one they should be enjoying instead of this half-marriage.
Camille, Milton’s wife, sat across from her, listening intently and saying very little. More than once she caught Jane’s eye with a solemnity to make Jane wonder if the woman suspected Jane’s unease or if it was lingering discomfort over what had happened between them. For the first time Jane didn’t care about the past or Milton or Camille. All she cared about was Jasper and how there seemed to be more than the distance of the room between them.
She watched him while he spoke with his father. He didn’t notice her at first, but then his eyes met hers and the regret darkening them made her want to rush to him. Instead, she was forced to remain on the sofa pretending happiness for the benefit of his family. It made her feel more like a trained monkey than a married woman.
When the sisters at last lost interest in discussing Jane’s married life, Olivia stood to suggest a new amusement. ‘Who’d like to join me in a game of whist?’
A noticeable quiet drifted over the room.
Mr Charton thumped his hand on the table beside him, making a statue of a shepherdess rattle on her porcelain base. ‘Not in my house you won’t.’
‘Risking a pence or two among family isn’t going to land anyone in debtors’ prison, Father,’ Olivia scoffed. ‘After all, it’s not as if I’m suggesting we establish a gambling den in the sitting room!’
Jane exchanged a wary glance with Jasper, wondering if Olivia suspected them. She didn’t believe so. Olivia had always been the most rebellious and outspoken of the three sisters and much more like Jasper than any of the other girls.
Mr Charlton levelled a warning finger at his daughter. ‘If you’d seen the many men who’ve wasted my loans and their livelihoods on cards, you wouldn’t think it so funny.’
‘Everyone understands your feelings on the matter, Henry,’ Mrs Charton gently chided from where she held court near the window, surrounded by her grandchildren. She wore her favourite red-silk gown with a matching turban her daughters called old-fashioned, but which she adored. She was still lithe, despite having borne seven children.
The subject would have been dropped if Milton hadn’t decided to step in. ‘It’s a disgusting habit and, like Father, I’d be ashamed of anyone in this family who ever resorted to such a lowly way of life.’
‘Says the man who’s proven his talent at sneaking around,’ Jasper hissed.
The room went silent—even the grandchildren stopped talking. Across from Jane, Camille lowered her eyes and her cheeks turned bright red.
‘I think you’ve been away too long and forgotten how things are done in this family,’ Milton hissed back. Beside him, Alice allowed Jacob a drink from her glass. Jacob started to hand it to Giles when a warning look from Mrs Charton made him hand it back to his sister.
‘We can chastise a man for his sins, but once they’re done they’re finished. Now on to better topics,’ Mrs Charton insisted, bringing the matter to a close. But it didn’t smooth Jasper or Milton’s ruffled feathers, or ease Jane’s guilt. The family had accepted her even after the debacle with Milton and here she was, sitting in their midst, as two-faced as Milton.
‘Let’s play musical chairs instead,’ Alice suggested. Chairs scraped over the floor as the siblings and their husbands dragged them into place and Lily struck a chord on the piano to begin the game.
Olivia participated, but appeared more bored than amused. It was clear she and her brewery-owner husband didn’t mind small amounts of gambling. Jane wondered if she’d side with her and Jasper if their secret ever came out. She didn’t know Olivia well enough to be sure.
While the elder sisters and their husbands laughed and raced around to find open chairs, Milton sulked in the corner with Giles, who rolled his eyes at having been cornered by his complaining elder brother. When he finally managed to slip away and join Jasper and Mr Charton, Milton’s wife fawned over her spouse, trying to bring him out of his sulkiness to join the game. When Milton rebuffed her to help himself to the brandy in the corner, his wife remained by the wall, ill at ease among all the laughter.
Jane felt sorry for her. It wasn’t an emotion she expected to encounter, but there it was. She had more experience than she cared to admit with a husband pushing her away.
The brewer raced around the chairs behind Olivia who reached the open one first. The activity distracted Jane from noticing Jasper’s absence. She had no idea when or where he’d gone. No one else was missing.
Did he leave without me?
She shifted nervously on her feet. She used to read in the papers about husbands sneaking out never to be seen again. There was a ship leaving for America tomorrow. She was about to ask Mrs Charton where Jasper had gone when the rustle of skirts beside her made her turn. Camille approached, as pale as always, but there was a hint of determination in her mouse-like eyes. Jane forced herself not to scurry away from her like some startled elephant.
‘Good evening, Jane. I haven’t had a chance to speak with you the last two times we’ve been at events, but I wished to congratulate you on your wedding.’
‘Thank you.’ Jane did her best to be gracious. She and Camille had never been more than passing acquaintances, her father and mother moving in the same circles as the Rathbones and the Chartons. When they were young, they’d seen one another at birthday parties and teas, but they’d never been close. Other than having stolen Jane’s fiancé, Camille had never done or said an ill thing to Jane.
The laughter of the other married siblings rang through the room. It covered the quiet conversation between the ladies, although Jane couldn’t help but notice Mrs Charton regarding them before she turned back to her youngest grandson.
‘I also want to apologise for what happened,’ Camille stated without hesitation.
Jane gaped at Camille. She hadn’t expected this. She’d prefer it to be Milton, but she’d take it from the wife.
‘I’m quite over it, as you can see.’ She would have motioned to Jasper, but he was nowhere to be found. The same awkwardness she’d experienced the first time she’d attended a party after the unexpected elopement, when everyone had cast sympathetic looks her way, draped her again. ‘We needn’t speak of it.’
‘But we must. You see, I didn’t mean to hurt you, but Milton and I were so in love we couldn’t help ourselves.’ Camille said it in such a way Jane knew it wasn’t boasting. It stabbed at her because no such driving passion had met her and Jasper’s union. It had been a bargain, a negotiation, with little promise of more. ‘He also told me you’d already broken with him.’
He would, the lying rat. ‘Then why the secrecy and the elopement?’
‘My father doesn’t share my good opinion of Milton.’
Few did, but Jane didn’t want to cast aspersions on the love of Camille’s life.
‘I would have spoken to you about it sooner, but there’s never been a good time. Since we’re sure to be together at many gatherings in the future, I don’t want any bad blood between us and I’m eager to see Milton and Jasper reconciled, too.’
The woman was a fiancé-stealing saint. ‘I’m afraid it isn’t up to us.’
She couldn’t settle the current tension between her and Jasper, much less work a miracle between the two brothers.
‘We can certainly help. If you’ll agree to do it, so will I.’
She held out her hand to seal the pact with a shake. Jane stared at the ivory-satin glove covering it before she took it, Camille’s honesty and concern melting Jane’s grudge, but not her doubts about a reconciliation. It would be even harder to settle things between the brothers if Jasper turned his back on her for good, choosing his American woman over her. Her chest tightened as she imagined the looks and whispering she’d have to endure then.
‘I knew I could count on you. You’re so clever and quick. I’ve always admired you because of it.’ It wasn’t flattery and it left Jane speechless. Milton didn’t deserve his kind wife. ‘If you ever need someone to discuss things with, I’d be honoured to keep your confidences. I know how difficult it can be in this family.’
